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This article seeks to provide a brief history of the FRSA, an overview of the elements of an FRSA claim, a discussion of how FRSA claims are litigated, and discuss the still-developing jurisprudence employed by both the Department of Labor and Article III courts in litigation of FRSA claims.

Minnesota has an extensive history of mining. Beginning in the nineteenth century, mining in Minnesota focused on limestone and to a limited extent, gold. However, Minnesota is predominantly known for its iron ore mining. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, three iron ranges in northern Minnesota became the underpinning of a mining economy that would provide hundreds of jobs and tons of iron ore to be processed into steel.

Imagine you are twenty-one years old, uninsured, and you need to go to the doctor because of an illness. You can barely scrape the money together for the visit, and certainly cannot afford a second appointment. The doctor writes you a prescription for some cold medicine. Prior to visiting the pharmacy you change one number, doubling the prescription. You are relatively young and don’t realize this split-second act of poverty will haunt you for at least the next fifteen years of your life.

Who knew way back in 1844 that Morse Code and telegrams would someday be replaced by computers and digital messages? Who anticipated even ten years ago that electronically stored information (ESI) would come to dominate much of civil discovery? And who, pray tell, understands all of its ramifications and possibilities?

Indemnification is defined as the “action of compensating for loss or damage sustained.” Therefore, indemnity is the “right of an injured party to claim reimbursement for its loss, damage, or liability from a person who has such a duty.” “The right of indemnity can be contractual or it can arise under common law or statute.”

The Minnesota Supreme Court last considered the issue of the inherent authority expungement, in particular, a district court’s ability to seal records held outside the judicial branch, over two years ago in State v. S.L.H. Since then, individuals continue to seek relief from the effects of their criminal records, and the number of expungement petitions has remained steady. The Minnesota Court of Appeals has analyzed inherent authority criminal expungements in several cases since S.L.H., producing two published decisions. This article will explain how the appellate courts have applied and refined S.L.H., and which circumstances may still warrant relief to seal executive-branch records under the court’s inherent authority.

Surprising, perhaps, to some, but apparently true: economic inequality itself, as distinguished from absolute poverty, tends to increase the rates of crime and social unrest. James Madison asserted as much in Federalist 10, writing that “the various and unequal distribution of property” is “the most common and durable source” of conflict, and modern social science supports the idea. Inequality is correlated most strongly with homicide, but also with rape, child abuse, robbery, and various other crimes and social ills.